March 21, 2009
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State offense, led by the trio of Brandon Meredith, Erik Castro and Cory Vaughn, got the clutch hitting it had been missing the previous two days as the Aztecs defeated Brigham Young, 11-5, Saturday afternoon. The victory ended SDSU's short two-game losing streak as it improved to 14-8 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain West Conference.
As it had in the first two games of the series, SDSU took the early lead. Three runs in the bottom of the first came courtesy of a two-run double down the left field line by Castro and an RBI single by Vaughn.
After the Cougars got a one back in the third, the Aztecs restored their three-run cushion for starting pitcher Jon Berger as Matt Parker singled home Vaughn to make it a 4-1 game. Berger would eventually go on to get the win to even his record at 2-2, allowing four runs (two earned) while striking out eight over six innings.
Again taking a cue from the first two contests against SDSU, BYU fought back to tied the game at 4-4 with three runs in the fifth, the final two of which scored on a two-out error.
This time, however, the script played out differently as San Diego State stormed back to re-assume a three-run lead (7-4) in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded three-run double by Vaughn. That hit came off Cougar reliever Marc Oslund, who had just entered the game after SDSU had put three men on against starter Adam Miller. With all three runs charged to Miller, he would end up tasting defeat for the first time in 2009 as his record dropped to 2-1.
The Aztecs expanded their lead to 10-4 one inning later as Eric Castro deposited an Oslund pitch over the fright field fence with Matt Parker and Brandon Meredith on base. They added one more run in the seventh on Vaughn's second double of the night, a ground out by Mitch Blackburn and a sacrifice fly by Jomel Torres.
Tyler Lavigne, making his first relief appearance of the season after four starts, tossed the final three innings to pick up his first save. His only mistake was a pitch to Kent Walton that the BYU DH hit for a home run in the ninth. Walton had homered earlier in the contest off Berger, a solo shot as well.
Vaughn ended the afternoon with four hits including two doubles, two runs scored and three runs batted in. Castro drove in five runs with a double and three-run homer and also crossed the plate three times. Meredith, meanwhile, contributed a pair of singles and scored three runs.
San Diego State will have Sunday off before beginning a short two-game series against Southern Utah on Monday, March 23, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs and Thunderbirds will also meet Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. as SDSU wraps up its current 10-game home stand before traveling to TCU next weekend.